Research Foci for a Department of Anthropological Sciences
There is an evident and pressing need, with the burgeoning of interdisciplinary human sciences in
the 21st century, for UC Irvine to develop a series of foci for integrating the Anthropological
Sciences in terms of research, academic programs, and a home for faculty and joint appointments in
the Anthropological Sciences. The proposed Department would link to other programs in Biology,
Cognitive Sciences, Earth Sciences, Human Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Medicine,
Mathematical Behavioral Sciences, Neurophysiology, Information and Computer Sciences, and
Statistics, among others, and encompass as its subject matter human evolution, environment and
behavior in the broadest senses.
Primatology: Behavior and ecology, evolutionary biology; primate phylogeny; primate evolution
and paleoecology; functional and developmental morphology.
Human evolution: Hominoid genetic evolution, behavior of early hominids, foraging theory, human
ecology.
Molecular anthropology: use of genetic data to make phylogenetic inferences; estimating
branching patterns for living taxa; using clock-like genetic data in conjunction with appropriate
fossil-based calibrations to yield divergence dates.
Archaeology: Tools and technologies, evolution of civilizations, early state formation.
Cognitive anthropology: The distribution of knowledge within social groups, the multidimensional
scaling of knowledge and attitudes, cultural grammars and decision models, schema networks and
neurophysiological mappings of culturally patterned phenomena.
Computational anthropology: Multi-agent simulation, Monte-Carlo and statistical methods,
complex adaptive systems, evolutionary game theory.
Cultural development: The structure, function and evolution of social forms and networks, kin
groups, tribes, states.
Economic organization: Dynamics and evolution of social formations, economic development,
globalization.
Expressive forms: The evolution and distribution of language, games, arts, myth, beliefs, music and
religion.
Social change: Dynamics of social processes and implications for demography, gender, division of
labor, cultural cognition, ethics, human behavior and for both mental and physical health.
Social networks: Dynamics and structure of human social interaction, causes and consequences of
cohesive groupings, role structures, social movements and institutions, emergence out of interaction.